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Monday, 13 May 2013

Nokia Lumia 920 review: Two Weeks with a Lumia 920

I have had a few years with a Blackbery phone and a year with an iphone, this year toying with Android and I was keen to see the difference that Windows Phone makes and was genuinely surprised! The tiled interface is far simpler than iOS and android without seeming childish. Font's and transitional effects are smooth the live tiles appealing, Email and messaging Worked well and didn't take long to adjust to using, The hardware being Nokia was excellent. I have large hands and found the size perfect, not too large at all.

Camping

I took the phone on a three day course Bowl carving with Robin Wood, pictures and information in my previous blogs, I was camping in an area where my Network could not get reception, the side effect of this was the Lumia's battery lasted three days without charging while taking photos and using it. At home I would get well over a days use with the phone. If you get this phone I think the wireless charging mat would be well worth it too.

Making a video with the Lumia

With the camera on the 920 the important thing is to change the mode to allow tap to focus and to allow screen photos, you want to use stabilization in the right places!

Filming this tutorial video for YouTube I made a simple phone stand to fit on my tripod. This was a block of softwood sawn to hold the phone at an angle. You can improve on this by attaching this to the threaded screw and using Velcro to hold the phone in place

The quality in the low light of my Workshop at full 1080p was outstanding.

Using the Video files

On Ubuntu, my main desktop OS the Wndows Phone is seen as a camera storage device and it was simple to drag and drop, I had less luck ironically trying the same on my Windows 7 install to recognise the device, I have put that down to my older hardware and a newer device.

Editing 1080p was hard on my 5 year old laptop(normally edit in 720p) but the results were worth it.

If the video isn't showing click here:(BTW I normally use an iPhone or iPod touch 5th generation for making these kind if videos.)

Criticisms and afterthoughts

there were a few apps I use everyday on ios and android that have not been ported over yet. Flipboard for one. And some features I use all the time, like sharing photos via messages within Facebook were absent still. Things are changing all the time though, Just as I was finishing my trial Windows announced a new YouTube app with added features. What the next update to Windows phone 8 needs for certain is the drop down notification menu on the home screen, ( hint to MS: Just borrow it from Android like Apple did, Google wont mind at all, really!!)

Nokia Lumia phones represent better value than equivalently priced android phones, even the Lumia Low end phones (Lumia 520 for example) have the same swish experience, no lag at all and for the money are far better than even old iPhones of the same price.

I left it a week before writing up my blog so could be a little more impartial. It was a positive experience, I may have chosen it for its camera but typing on it was really easy to type on the large screen and its predictive word learns from you and is really good, so by now I really miss the phone. Do give the Nokia Lumia range a try out when your next in the phone shop, Apps aside, If you like your phone to be easy to use and reliable or you have tablets or ipod Touches to satisfy your latest game urges then it could be a good option! Let me know if you have any questions or feedback!